Belgium

Funniest /most memorable moment: The coffin bar with corpse in the table.

Who went? – Me, Bob, Vicky and Jimmy

Duration: 3 days

Month and Year: May 2012

Cost: £25 Flights, £100 each for 5 star accommodation

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Ok so for Bobs Bday he wanted us to go to Belgium!

I had researched beforehand and wanted to see the Coffin Bar, the Apartment bar, the Atomic structure and the famous Delirium cafe with over 200o beers

The airport and the dumbass shuttle bus

We got to an airport called “charleroi” which was one of 2 airports in Belgium. We assumed you could get the train from this to the center, however we were wrong. We had to get a 13 euro shuttle bus to what they said “was the center of Brussels”. What actually happened was that it dropped you off on the outskirts. . In fact 2 hours away from the hotel (on foot). ..

We began walking and went into the nearest café we could find to eat. It was a shit hole! We had these chicken baguette things.

The toilets were that dirty that I didn’t want to use the soap in them! We then continued to walk.

We later found out we should have caught a train from where it dropped us off to the center and it was only 2 euros!

We arrived at hotel to find a sculpture outside the hotel of a car that looked as thow it had been in an accident. It had road signs in it and still had the radio on inside. Pretty cool.

Le Cerceui AKA Coffin bar

We found a bar called “Le Cerceuil “that looked like a shop from the outside. Inside was really dark and like a graveyard. It had some great furniture in it like a coffin table that had a glass top so that you could see the skeleton inside. They played light rock music here and the only light was UV lights. Not many beers are served here, however the nice ones are. You can also purchase Skulls that you can drink from.

We then went back and we all got dressed up for our first night out.

We went out and found a few bars. It was quite obvious that Brussels isn’t really a “going out” place as full of restaurants and not many bars. The bars we did find were very small.

Delirium Cafe – 2000 beers

Very over rated. As you can imagine this place is popular. There are lots of pumps on the bar area, however its obvious they havent got enough staff to cater for the crowds of people in here. We waited over 15 mins to get served so walked out. At end of the day, Belgium is all about beers and there’s lots of bars serving different types so I wouldn’t bother going to this one.

O ‘Reilly Bar

We found the O’Reileys bar that was one of the few Irish bars there. It was ok but again not great atmosphere.

There is another place next door called O Reilly club. This is a mini club but that was full of 10 year olds on drugs so we kinda thought it was past our time in there.

After lots of walking about we found this weird place that was just like a big hall with lots of student like people in it. It featured 2 trannys singing, a dwarf and a guy dressed as a PIG. They were singing some shit music. The atmosphere was shite and I couldn’t help but think that they really need to get out more as they were also only serving beer in cans! You also had to pay 46 cents to use the effin toilet!

We then headed back as it seems at 3am in Belgium everywhere closes!

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Saturday

We woke and decided to grab some Belgium waffles and ice cream for breakfast. I had Vanilla. They were very yummy but hard to eat as they only gave you a fork to cut the waffle, so I ended up grabbing it all and shovelling it in.

We noticed that a freight was going on involving cardboard floats in the street. They had also placed orange cardboard boxes on the heads of the statues there. Later on in the day they closed off the streets and were doing a being parade with fireworks etc.

ATOMIUM STRUCTURE – SHINY SILVER BALLS

We then decided that we would catch the tour bus to do some sight-seeing. We took the bus to the Atomic structure. There was an ice cream van around there selling Jupiler beer which was the nice beer. This place was quite cool. We decided to get some buffalo shots here. People were actually ab-seiling down it and tight-ropping across the top. Crazy Bastards. We didn’t go inside as it was 25 euros each! Basically it just have you a panoramic view anyways.

Little Europe was near there but these guys didn’t wana go in as thought it was a waste of money AT 13 EUROS each, so we just had lots of beers around there, however it was very hot and sunny so was all good.

We decided to have a meal in one of the many restaurants. They advertise the menu at being 18 euros for 3 course meal outside, however this is bollox. This is just the starter. Me and Vik ended up having mussels that were served in buckets and you placed the shells in a top hat. This was pretty cool but what you expect for 23 euros a piece!

We headed back and got ready for another night out. We tracked down a place called “THE FLAT”. This was abit out of town but featured rooms like inside of an apartment. So you went upstairs that featured the bed room and toilet with seats around it.

In the basement you had this dark room with seats in it. Great idea however think they could have made it slightly better.

We then headed back to town but this time round by O Relies where a few live bands performed, but again just wasn’t feeling it. Couldn’t get pissed here as the beers have so many different tastes that you just get sober!

We tried lots of beers, however the Jupilor seemed to be the nicest. Although a place of many beers, the majority are shite! The ones below that are called “KWACK” is like a bitter. We just thought they looked cool and were served in a wooden holster. unfortunately they tasted horrible.

Belgium as a summary.

Good: Flight only an hour. Some few nice places for a couple but not for a group of friends.